Rima Brayley?
By Robin Casady

Rima Brayley -- not.
Several of us gathered at Fremont Peak, Sunday night for some lunar observing. There was an Astro-Physics 180, an Intes MK-91, a Takahashi TSC 225, and an AP 130 f/6. Seeing was not great.

I was not able to see Rima Brayley in any of the scopes. The owner of the 180 was able to see small sections of it in moments of good seeing, and the owner of the MK-91 said he saw a small bend of it in my TSC 225. It eluded me completely. However, I was able to see, briefly, the near-by unnamed rille at 35 degrees west and 21.5 degrees north.

There were some other features of interest. When we set up and first started observing it was still light. I didn't check a clock, but it was probably around 7:30 p.m. The terminator was at about 49 degrees W. Rupes Toscanelli, Rimae Aristarchus. Rimae Prinz were in evidence. As the evening went on, it opened up on Vallis Schroteri, to about 52 degrees. It was fascinating to watch the dawn proceed in this area.

Schickard looked like a large bite taken out of the terminator edge. Later as dawn struck it a patch of light, like a very wide ray, broke into the floor of the crater.

Mare Humorum was a particularly interesting area [Rukl 52]. Doppelmayer showed a large central peak and--unlike Rukl's drawing--looked to have a broken concentric ring around the peak. Rukl shows detail to one side of the peak. The view last night gave the appearance of a broken ring all the way around. Rimae Doppelmayer was clearly in evidence. Some of Gassendi's rilles were easily seen, but I was distracted by Doppelmayer, and didn't spend much time on it.